Transitional Trails

We had been away from the trail long enough. On Sunday December 15 we were back at it. We did not have a lot of time that day so we decided to do the next two short segments according to the Stone book Day Hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains. We would start at Trippet Ranch and take the Dead Horse Trail to Topanga Canyon Blvd and then cross the boulevard and take a short trail that would get us to Old Topanga Canyon Road. That would set us up to do the more substantial Hondo Canyon Trail next time.

Dead Horse Trail

We arrived at the end point early in the morning and there were already hikers and bikers arriving at the trailhead. There were also many cars lined up in front of Topanga State park where we began the hike.

This is the entrance to the park. 

Past the parking lot there is this path that leads to Dead Horse Trail.

Dead Horse Trail begins. Let the hike begin in earnest!

At first the trail runs parallel to a fence that goes through this grassy field.

Later there is more vegetation on either side of the trail. 

The trail continues in a similar fashion.

Nice vista!

Blurry pic of Matt as we begin a descent into a more wooded area.

A bridge!! That requires a pic of Bruce on the bridge. As we have had so little rain this year there was no water in the creek. Bummer.

Some trails have a dramatic view at the end. Others have a parking lot.

And now to cross Topanga and start on the next trail.

The Trail That Will Remain Nameless

Alright, so the sign says backbone trail. Not exactly nameless, but there is apparently no other name associated with this short segment

This is Topanga Canyon after all, home of many free spirits. We began to see signs of that.

While the Dead Horse was primarily downhill in the direction we took it, now we were heading up and up on this nameless trail.

The glory of the circle of life: the nearby rotting log was described as being host to a complex ecosystem.

The complex ecosystem was right next to the trail.

There were many signs with details about the plants. This one was about wild Cucumbers.

This nice view was looking to the north.

After all of the uphill climbing a little downhill looked nice. However, as we were nearing the end and we still had time to hike, we decided to take a detour and try another trail. 

Almost immediately we came upon this really nice view to the south.

We ended up on a road that led to two private properties. When we looked back down the trail we could see the ocean in the distance.

Hey, now this was a view to the west - nice!

These guard dogs were protecting one of the properties we walked past. There was a tiny little fence that they could have jumped over, but they seemed content to bark at us from a distance.

Back on the main trail we came to the water tower. There is a narrow path along the right side that one can follow to continue on the trail.

There was more downhill trail as we neared the road.

But first we had to stop at this nice bench.

A bench with a view!

I Want My GPS

The beginning of the hike was at the green tree symbols on the right. That detour we took near the end of the hike ended up being about as long as the trail from Topanga Canyon Blvd to Old Topanga Blvd!

And this shows our first hike in red and our second hike in blue. Since the GPS ran out of power on the first hike what is not shown is that the first hike ended right where the second one began.

Looking Ahead

Thanks for taking a look at the second entry in what should be a complete commentary of Backbone Trail. Next up will be the more challenging Hondo Canyon Trail. Until next time...

Cheers!
Bruce